Earlier this year, the University of Houston installed a golden sculpture with satanic imagery to honor abortion and memorialize the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now, someone has beheaded the statue.
As LifeNews reported, according to Texas Right to Life, the university is displaying a statue called “Witness,” which the pro-life group described as “an 18-foot tall naked female figure with braids shaped like goat horns and arms like tentacles.” The bronze statue also wears a lace collar in imitation of Ginsburg’s recognizable style.
The university will display the statue from February 28 to October 31, calling it “a platform for artistic expression that encourages critical reflection and exploration of important issues,” according to a recent statement.
But now someone has beheaded the controversial statue.
Around 3:00 a.m. on Monday, July 8, as winds and storms resulting from Hurricane Beryl hit the Houston area, an unknown assailant climbed the 18-foot sculpture, Witness, and beheaded the female figure at the apex of the work.
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The sculpture, which was a joint commission between Public Art University of Houston System (Public Art UHS) and Madison Square Park Conservancy, was originally on view in Madison Square Park in New York. Though Ms. Sikander has explained that the piece speaks to the history of women and people of color being underrepresented in public works and is about women and justice, Texas Right to Life claims that the sculpture includes “satanic imagery” and “honor[s] child sacrifice.”
Days after the vandalization of Witness, Ms. Sikander requested that the university leave the sculpture without repairs.
UHPD’s recently released video footage is from two angles. A color video shows a side view of the sculpture with the top portion obscured by a tree. It reveals a person climbing the skirt structure of Witness and disappearing behind the tree leaves for about two minutes before the head of the sculpture falls to the ground. The person then descends the sculpture and runs off frame. A black and white video from a further distance away and a higher perspective is more difficult to make out as it is distorted by wind and weather, but captures the same act.
Texas Right to Life pointed out that the statue also bears the word “havah,” which means “air,” “to breathe,” “atmosphere” and “Eve” in Arabic and Hebrew. In a 2023 interview with The Art Newspaper, Sikander had praised Eve as “the first law-breaker.”
“Disobedience to God certainly should not be esteemed by society, much less lauded with a statue,” Texas Right to Life stated. “On the contrary, art should reflect truth, goodness, and beauty: three timeless values that reveal the nature of God. Art cannot have beauty without truth. Art cannot have truth without goodness.”
According to Texas Right to Life, the university is “proud” to display the statue.
“With Havah…to breathe, air, life, Shahzia demonstrates how justice is conceptually and actively vibrant across cultures and genders. And yet, while the necessity of justice is universal, it is often blindly applied,” said Dr. Maria C. Gaztambide, the university’s executive director and chief curator of public art. “Shahzia brings to the fore the imbalances of gender and race through this exceptional work. We are proud to join forces with Madison Square Park in bringing it to fruition, while amplifying its reach beyond New York City.”
“A statue honoring child sacrifice has no place in Texas,” the pro-life group stated.
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